by Sam Ford ¦ Thursday, February 17th 2022

WASHINGTON (7News) — At a conference, in person and virtual, the question why do so many veterans are dying by suicide and what more can be done to abate the problem?

The sponsor of the conference that was held at the Arc was the Southeast DC Veterans Center. The moderator was former Army Captain Greg Washington who fought in Afghanistan and Iraq. He says he once contemplated suicide.

“I was physically hurt from my injuries that I sustained while I was deployed. I was mentally and emotionally hurt from my two best friends that I lost in combat,” he said.

More recently he said he saw a fellow vet commit suicide on Facebook live by drinking something that looked like bleach, collapsing and later dying.

He said it set him out on a 6-month, 1800 mile walk from from Mount Bayou, Mississippi to West Point, New York, Washington’s alma mater, to raise awareness about veterans’ suicide.

An array of professionals sat on two panels discussing the severity of the problem:

Four times as many veterans have died of suicide since the wars after 9/11 began, than in combat.

Despite the range of programs getting more and more funding each year, the suicide numbers have continued to mount, except for 2019 when suicide among veterans declined 7%, but some speculate it was an aberration because it went back up in 2020.

Dr Robert Beckman of the organization TreatNOW argues that a lot of mental illness that leads to suicide is the result of physical maladies inside the brain that could have been cured. He calls for Hyperbaric oxygenation of the brain, essentially, flushing the brain with oxygen to clear and heal potentially wounded areas.

“It is important that we not ignore the mental health manifestations of what in too many cases with combat veterans and others is an underlying physiological set of consequences from blasts, whether IEDs or your own weapon,” said Beckman.

He talked about a spiritual component that also affects first responders.

“First responders to include police, firefighters, ambulances drivers, EMTs,” said Beckman, “Their suicide rates are up. Three to four times higher than the normal because they’re enduring more, they’re seeing more, they’re experiencing more. And the end of the day, damage which is done to the soul manifests itself in brain injury,” he said.

Washington, who says he believes his 1800-mile walk made a difference, sums up the factors that lead to suicide.

“Financial distress, toxic relationships, and isolation. Most people can deal with two of the three, but when you’re dealing with all three, it’s like the weight of the world is on you, ” Washington said.

“The TreatNOW Coalition is a nationwide network of veterans, doctors, clinicians, economists, and activists on a mission to save America’s veterans from the suicide and opioid epidemics,” according to the TreatNOW website.